Hanover voters oppose recreational pot shops opening in town

Monday

Once recreational marijuana dispensaries will be allowed to open in Massachusetts in July 2018, adults 21-and-over looking to purchase marijuana will have to do so outside of Hanover’s borders.

Residents strongly voted in favor of changing the town’s bylaws to ban the shops from opening within the town during a special Town Meeting Monday, Dec. 18 at Hanover High School.

The voting section of the school’s auditorium, which was two-thirds of the auditorium, was standing-room-only, with 319 registered voters on hand to voice their opinions on the two special Town Meeting warrant articles. The first article changed a zoning bylaw, which needed a two-thirds majority to pass. The second changed a general bylaw and that only needed a simple majority to pass.

The town voted roughly 60 percent in opposition to legalizing recreational marijuana at the November 2016 General Election. Towns that voted in opposition of the ballot question are able to put the town-wide sales ban for a vote at their annual Town Meeting or at a special Town Meeting. Pembroke voted against allowing marijuana shops within their borders at their Town Meeting in May. Marshfield voters at a special Town Meeting in October rejected a ban on recreational marijuana facilities in their town, opening the doors for a recreational facility there.

“We figured with the conservative nature of the town that it would go the way it did,” said Selectmen Chairman David Delaney. “While there were some folks in the crowd tonight that were opposed to the ban, anyone I have been in touch with lately has been in favor of the ban. I wasn’t exactly sure what to expect for the turnout, but it’s more than I anticipated.”

While it was brought up several times during the meeting, the town’s hands are tied in regards to medical marijuana. According to town council Lauren Galvin, bans are not allowed for medical marijuana regardless how the town voted at the November 2016 election. The medicinal marijuana dispensary Curaleaf is in operation on Route 53.

Town Moderator Doug Thomson reminded the crowd several times that they were not debating the legality or illegality of marijuana, only the zoning of it within the town. Regardless of the outcome of the meeting, nothing would affect the right to possess and smoke marijuana under the laws that were passed in 2016.

“If the town were to change its mind, it would require the same process as repealing any general or zoning bylaw in the town of Hanover,” said Galvin. “We have a ban on recreational establishments for the time being. If someone from the town of Hanover wants to introduce a new bylaw to repeal these bylaws, that could be done at any time.”